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hhltdave5
Joined: 20 Jun 2006
Posts: 24065
Location: Our Stock, Food & Portrait photography books at www.rindersmithphotography.com
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Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2012 8:15 am
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| jhuls wrote: | | jennydu wrote: | Hi Jenn:
This thread is a wonderful idea.
The problem I am having is knowing what photos have CV. I only have a few pics in my port that are popular. I know Laurin and others always say, ...name 3, 4, 5 things this picture will help promote.... I do that and can come up with ideas on how they can be used, but in the long run, it doesn't help any. How do you determine what has CV at this point in your SS experience?
I'm still trying various subjects to see where my interest lies and what I'll be good at.
Jenny |
Hopefully some of the seasoned submitter will answer this. I think a general rule is that it should be able to have 3-5 things that the picture will help promote but even if it does it doesn't mean it will get downloaded. |
I have never been a believer of the statement that a shot should have 3-5 things it could be used for. Awhile back it was 10 things. A shot does not need to be able to have multiple uses. What multiple uses does is give the image the ability to draw different types of users which is good but not totally necessary.
Stock has a wide use methodology. People who need all kinds of images come here to find what they need. Now lets say someone wants an image of a household sponge. Now a shot of a blue household sponge has a use for cleaning something and that is about it. It does not have multiple uses unless you really start to stretch it. So should a person not submit the sponge? Of course not because it is a needed shot that is used widely.
Also take what I do which is specializing in food photography. Food does one thing and that is promote food especially the particular food I am submitting. That's what it does and does not have easily recognizable multi uses.
Should a person not work towards creating images that do have multi uses? Of course not because that can help generate sales but it is not a requirement. Sometimes when we say the shot should have 3-5 things it can do the newcomers may think that is a rule when it isn't.
The whole trick to this is to follow the old show business adage which says "give them what they want." Give the buyers good quality images with high commercial value (within the shots use range) and keyword them properly.
That will go a long way in boosting sales. Yes, the wider the range the better but do not forget the needed shots that do not have that wide range over multiple areas. Don't discard a shot simply because it does not have those multiple uses but don't come up with something totally bizarre where just one person in the world would need the shot.
It is all about balance and creating shots that have a need and a use whether it be a single use or multiple uses. |
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hhltdave5
Joined: 20 Jun 2006
Posts: 24065
Location: Our Stock, Food & Portrait photography books at www.rindersmithphotography.com
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Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2012 8:22 am
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| jhuls wrote: | Thanks again everyone for the great advice.
And thanks sascha for the compliment, I had a look at your port and it' looking good to me.
I know one thing is for sure I am sick of doing inside shots, I would love to get outside again and do some out door portrait work. I always feel like I am in a slump this time of year. Most of my creative stuff happens in the warmer months.
I really wanting more and more to get some better studio lights. I think I am going to hold of doing much more portrait studio work until I do. I am looking back on some of my images and they just are not what I want them to be. My lighting set up works for the small things but not great for portraits. |
Many lighting setups used for product work can be used with portraits but there are also lighting setups that are geared for portraits and getting a specific feel for it.
When Laurin and I wrote our Portrait Photography book this is something we spent a good deal of time on. I had Laurin send me dozens of shots with diagrams so I could include them in the book.
We also did some videos on portrait lighting and have more to come.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PARuZQ9dIo4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYOSrTwngwE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6CarT1y3MI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4QURzsQIxQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DK301II3Vpk |
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jhuls
Joined: 02 Jan 2012
Posts: 1046
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Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2012 9:34 am
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Thanks again Dave for all of your really helpful info.
Here is another money question, I am noticing there is quite a difference between what my earning stats page says my overall gross sales have been and what the overall earnings graph on my front page says. There is almost a $7 difference. The only thing I can figure is taxes but I can't imagine I would be taxed that much.
I don't mind sharing my stats since I haven't earned much so here is what I am looking at:
when I click on download stats my overall gross earnings are: $20.82
When I look at my overall earnings for the past 6 months on the graph on my home page :$13.94
So what is the difference? Taxes? How could I be taxes this much on such a small sum? Besides the majority of my images have been foreign sales. Or maybe I am just reading it wrong. Help please! |
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sasel77
Joined: 06 Oct 2011
Posts: 6
Location: Germany
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Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2012 9:50 am
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| Quote: | | when I click on download stats my overall gross earnings are: $20.82 |
These stats are updated every 15 oder 30 minutes I think.
| Quote: | | When I look at my overall earnings for the past 6 months on the graph on my home page :$13.94 |
The stats at this page are updated every week, one graph for every week, you see weekly earnings when you hover over a graph. So I think your earnings for this week until Sunday should be about 6,88$ ? |
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okiepony
Joined: 06 Apr 2010
Posts: 15387
Location: Finally There! :)
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Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2012 9:53 am
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There was a thread about this just a few days ago -
the stats in the graph are NOT up to date - they go by WEEK, Sunday through Saturday (look at the starting dates of each week in the graphs), and they get updated on Saturday night. So, you're not seeing any $$ there that you've earned since last Sunday.
Here's the thread
http://submit.shutterstock.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=118753 |
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jhuls
Joined: 02 Jan 2012
Posts: 1046
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Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2012 10:01 am
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One of these days I will get this site all figured out :) in the mean time thanks for answering my silly questions. |
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hhltdave5
Joined: 20 Jun 2006
Posts: 24065
Location: Our Stock, Food & Portrait photography books at www.rindersmithphotography.com
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Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2012 10:43 am
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| jhuls wrote: | | One of these days I will get this site all figured out :) in the mean time thanks for answering my silly questions. |
I don't really pay attention to the main page all that much. I just look at my stats page and that is all I need and has the most accurate and up to date information. The front page is more of an overall statistical page with general reference information. |
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jhuls
Joined: 02 Jan 2012
Posts: 1046
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Posted: Thu Feb 16, 2012 2:32 pm
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Slow day in sales today. Hoping it doesn't last. I need to get some new photos edited and submitted. I have some waiting to be reviewed but they are taking their time. |
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lmel900
Joined: 13 Mar 2011
Posts: 4946
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Posted: Thu Feb 16, 2012 4:07 pm
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I used to submit 5 to 10 images at a time to be safe, but now I'm dowloading 35 to 45 images per batch to compensate for the longer reviews. It is working pretty well. Sales for the new images increased for me during the past 2 days. |
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fieldsphotos
Joined: 28 Sep 2007
Posts: 25
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Posted: Fri Feb 17, 2012 1:20 am
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I am not a newbie time-wise, but definately one portfolio-wise with less than 100 images. I joined in 2007, uploaded some images, then promptly got too busy to do microstock. At the time I was uploading to 5 sites (SS, IS, DT, FT, and the now defunct SXP)
Fast forward to 2012. I decided to jump back in to microstock, which was significantly fueled by logging into all my accounts and discovering I had earned close to $1000 across the sites over those years - not to shabby for a tiny, static portfolio.
I have found the market is quite a bit different today than it was in 2007, but I am hopeful that I can still make it worth my while (paying for camera equipment). Based on the above posts, I suppose my new goal is getting 1000 images online. That's gonna take a while :-) |
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tverkhovynets
Joined: 12 Jun 2010
Posts: 748
Location: Kiev, Ukraine
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Posted: Fri Feb 17, 2012 9:18 am
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Great thread, Jenn! I really like the idea.
I have reached 100 images online milestone recently. My account was approved 2.5 months ago and I really like the results I get from my tiny portfolio. I get 1-5 dl's per day and I'd like to increase sales so that I could name it "money!" :)))
My account at IS was approved straight after SS account approval. Being honest, I don't like IS much, especially due to their new keywording system. I got images rejected for "irrelevant" keywords which sold my images here quite well. Still don't get it.
Taras |
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jhuls
Joined: 02 Jan 2012
Posts: 1046
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Posted: Fri Feb 17, 2012 9:23 am
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| fieldsphotos wrote: |
Based on the above posts, I suppose my new goal is getting 1000 images online. That's gonna take a while :-) |
Good luck and welcome back!
I am having another slow day :( I was starting to see some improvement in downloads but the last couple days have been rotten. And still photos sit waiting to be reviewed it has been 5 days now. I would like to upload in batches of 10 but things get backed up and I end up with around 20-30 waiting before they get reviewed. They will probably get reviewed and post to my portfolio tomorrow on a weekend when no one is looking. |
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sasel77
Joined: 06 Oct 2011
Posts: 6
Location: Germany
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Posted: Fri Feb 17, 2012 10:16 am
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| Quote: | | I am having another slow day :( I was starting to see some improvement in downloads but the last couple days have been rotten. |
Slow day for me, too. What I've learned in the few months here is that you never know what happens the next day. I have many ups and downs, maybe it's normal until you reach a port size or quality or have much popular photos that sell nearly every day. I have good sales in the middle of a week and nearly no sales at weekends :-(
| Quote: | | And still photos sit waiting to be reviewed it has been 5 days now. I would like to upload in batches of 10 but things get backed up and I end up with around 20-30 waiting before they get reviewed. They will probably get reviewed and post to my portfolio tomorrow on a weekend when no one is looking. |
My last batches with 50 and 25 photos were approved within 2-3 days. But I read a lot of people in the forums who have to wait 5 days or longer, don't know why. |
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fieldsphotos
Joined: 28 Sep 2007
Posts: 25
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Posted: Fri Feb 17, 2012 6:59 pm
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| Quote: | | Good luck and welcome back! |
Thanks! I love your port jhuls - you are going to do well here!
| Quote: | | Slow day for me, too. What I've learned in the few months here is that you never know what happens the next day. I have many ups and downs, maybe it's normal until you reach a port size or quality or have much popular photos that sell nearly every day. I have good sales in the middle of a week and nearly no sales at weekends :-( |
Yeah, I am trying to not micromanage my stat watching because of that. I will get a string of 4 days with zero sales, then pick up with several days where I get 4-5 and an OD. I hope at some point my port will be large enough to stop seeing the 0 download days. |
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jhuls
Joined: 02 Jan 2012
Posts: 1046
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Posted: Fri Feb 17, 2012 10:11 pm
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| tverkhovynets wrote: | Great thread, Jenn! I really like the idea.
I have reached 100 images online milestone recently. My account was approved 2.5 months ago and I really like the results I get from my tiny portfolio. I get 1-5 dl's per day and I'd like to increase sales so that I could name it "money!" :)))
My account at IS was approved straight after SS account approval. Being honest, I don't like IS much, especially due to their new keywording system. I got images rejected for "irrelevant" keywords which sold my images here quite well. Still don't get it.
Taras |
Welcome to the thread! I am almost to 100 images if the reviewers would ever get to reviewing the 50 photos I have waiting (grrrr it's been 6 days now) I went back and reviewed the photos I have in my portfolio some really needed to have the keywords changed. I have recently found a good system for keywording. I look up the most popular images for the type of photograph I am doing then I just copy and paste it into my file info on photoshop then delete the words that don't fit and add some that they didn't have. It saves a ton of time trying to think of words plus other people always think of words I wouldn't have. |
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